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Rich Short Crust
Break ten ounces of butter into a pound of flour dried and sifted, add a pinch of salt and two ounces of loaf sugar rolled fine. Make it into a very smooth paste as light as possible, with two well-beaten eggs and sufficient milk to moisten the paste.
A sweet, egg-enriched short paste for tart shells and covered fruit pies. The proportions are generous with butter, so temperature control matters more than technique.
- The hinge: keep it coldWith 10 oz butter to a pound of flour, the fat will smear rather than stay in flakes if the dough warms. Work quickly with cold butter, and rest the finished paste in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before rolling.
- Weights in modern termsA pound of flour is about 3 1/2 cups (450 g); 10 ounces of butter is 2 1/2 sticks (280 g); 2 ounces of sugar is a generous 1/4 cup (55 g).
- "Flour dried and sifted"Flour bought in bulk could take up moisture, and period books often direct that it be dried before use. Modern bagged flour needs no drying; sift or whisk it to break up lumps and stop there.
- Loaf sugar rolled fineLoaf sugar came as a hard cone that was chipped and crushed with a rolling pin. Ordinary granulated sugar is the direct substitute, or superfine if you want it to dissolve faster in the egg.
- Liquid quantity is deliberately vagueTwo eggs plus milk "sufficient to moisten" means as little as possible: start with a tablespoon or two of milk and add by the teaspoon until the dough just coheres when pressed. Excess liquid develops gluten and makes the crust tough.
- "As light as possible" does not mean well kneaded"As light as possible" -- most likely means handled lightly and briefly rather than well kneaded, though the recipe also asks for a very smooth paste. Bring it together, flatten it into a disc, and leave it alone.
- BakingThe original gives no oven guidance because it is a component recipe. Blind-bake a lined tart shell at 375-400F until set and pale gold, roughly 15-20 minutes with weights; the sugar and egg brown faster than a plain crust, so watch the edges.
- YieldEnough for two to three 9-inch single crusts, or one double-crust pie with trimmings for a few small tartlets.
Short crust is so called because the fat coats the flour and the strands of gluten stay short, so the baked paste crumbles instead of stretching; the word "shortening" for the fat itself is generally traced to that older sense of "short." English cookery books of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries often distinguished between a plain crust for meat pies, a puff paste for grand work, and a sugared, egg-enriched "rich short crust" like this one for fruit tarts and cheesecakes. Its appearance in a bride's cook book suits the pastry section's purpose, which is to supply foundation recipes usable across a dozen fillings. The instruction to dry the flour suggests a kitchen in which flour was bought in bulk and kept in a bin that absorbed moisture.